What are you doing?

Notice the headline. Can you spot the verb in the headline? Was your guess ‘doing’ or 'are'? If yes, then you are absolutely right!

Verbs are words that talk about actions or activities. For instance, in the sentence, ‘What are you doing?’ there are 2 verbs, 'are' and ‘doing’.

Like right now, for example! You are reading this blog post. The verb here is- reading! What is interesting realize is that we use verbs in almost every sentence we speak. If you focused a little harder on what you were speaking, you would be able to recognize the presence of verbs in your sentences. In short, there can not be a sentence without a verb.

Verbs can be classified into two main groups: Regular and Irregular Verbs. The main difference between the two is that regular verbs in their past tense end with ‘ed’, and irregular verbs end differently. 

For example:

·         dance – danced

·         work – worked

·         play – played

Now let us take a look at some examples of the past tense of irregular verbs.

·         catch- caught

·        sit - sat

·         do - did

·         eat – ate

·         be – was

·         become – became

·         build – built

If you notice, you will find that irregular verbs in their past tense do not end with ‘ed’. However, this does not disqualify them as verbs.

Here is a paragraph from the famous Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Try and find verbs here:   

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?' 


Could you pick out the verbs? Good!


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La Tamborrada, Por Favor!

If you’re planning on visiting the lazy, laid back town of San Sebastian in Spain, you might need to take your ear plugs with you.

The town which is otherwise a sleepy town comes alive to the sound of a thousand beating drums on this day.

Yes, you read it right! Thousands of beating drums all day and night! Spain has always been known for its outrageous festivals. (Remember the La Tomatina!)

But this one just takes the cake!

The parade begins on the evening of 19^th January at the Plaza de la Constitution and goes on till midnight the next day, in honor of their patron saint, the Donostia of San Sebastian. What you get to see is a parade of uniformed marchers through the streets of San Sebastian, beating on their drums. Loud, eh?

There is a brief break in the parade around dawn the next day. And we do mean brief. Lasts long enough for everyone to take a quick swig of brandy and a bite of churros. (Deep fried dough sweet snack dusted with sugar!)

Each team of marchers represents the various gastronomic societies of San Sebastian. We must tell you, it is a very intense competition!

The origin of this festival dates back to 1720, where rumor has it that a baker while filling barrels of water from a fountain began singing. A bunch of girls nearby began beating their own barrels as accompaniment.

That evolved into this marvelous festival you see today!

Learn more about Spanish culture and the language at SIFIL!

Get fluent!

As you learn more English, it will become apparent to you that there is no limit to how much you can know about a language.

What you start to see after a point is the need to know more, read more and learn more. Now you needn’t always rely on textbooks and study material to get fluent in a language. You can do it the fun way, too!

And that is exactly what we want to talk to you about.

What we find is the most effective is immersing oneself in the culture and cuisine of the country whose language one is trying to learn. Why? Because it is fun!

Think about it, wouldn’t you want to know what the Japanese eat? or how the Italians wed? or interesting traditions people follow in India? Everybody does! Even those who are not learning the language!

So what we’re trying to say is while learning a language, try to see every facet of it. Try to find out where it originated from and its dialects. We are not suggesting you LEARN all of them. We’re simply suggesting you get right INTO it.

Think about it. Why did you want to take up a language anyway? Maybe because you thought it sounded beautiful? Maybe because you thought it might be helpful for when you travel? Maybe you just found it interesting. But most of all, we find that people take up languages because they are intrigued by the culture.

Come, take up a language of YOUR choice at SIFIL!